MacGregor 26, opinions please ?

[Lakesailor]

I understand they were built for Great Lakes sailing (unless anyone knows otherwise) so that could include pretty breezy conditions.
However in the US there is a ballasted keel conversion available, which says a lot.

 

[Boomshanka]

I would hazard a guess that a good number of people who buy one for coastal use are first time buyers/complete novices who are sold on the apparent flexibility of sailing and/or moboing, and the fact that for around 20k you get a new boat, seperate heads (IIRC?), lot's of room down below, trailer, etc, etc... if a deal sounds too good to be true...

 

[Evadne]

Or possibly indicative that the McGregor is built (and sold in huge numbers) in the USA, where the Beaufort scale is almost unheard of, and mph is regarded as a perfectly valid measure.

Different ships, different cap-tallies.

Isn't American mph slower than the equivalent UK one, due to their pints, sorry miles being smaller? That would explain the claimed 50mph winds in the video.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Isn't American mph slower than the equivalent UK one, due to their pints, sorry miles being smaller? That would explain the claimed 50mph winds in the video.

I think you're on to something, but I'm almost sure it's their hours which are longer. That would explain why, when it's noon here, Uncle Sam is warming up the 96" flat screen idiotbox for the pre-breakfast show.

 

[Grumpybear]

I think you're on to something, but I'm almost sure it's their hours which are longer. That would explain why, when it's noon here, Uncle Sam is warming up the 96" flat screen idiotbox for the pre-breakfast show.

Also explains why everything they build is claimed to go much faster. Smaller miles + longer hours = world beating whatevers

 

[bljones]

Whether you think this image as derisive or supportive says a great deal about your point of view. I don't sail a Mac 26X/M but I have found myself sailing quite often WITH them, while many, many, other boats in our marina STAY in our marina. A better boat that goes unsailed is an ineffective boat.
Just like the spork, a Mac is effective, if not perfect.


Friends of mine have been boatshopping for several months, waffling between powerboats and sailboats and of course the 26M/X is on their list. After giving them my best old-salt-true-sailor sneer, they laid out their reasoning, causing me to modify my opinion of the Mac 26.

For what it is, it is absolutely EXCELLENT.

The problem is, most people don't know what it is.
It is NOT a sailboat- too tender, rigged too light, too big an engine,too many compromises and a weird hull shape.
It is NOT a powerboat- it's got a mast, boom, too many compromises and a weird hull shape.

What it is is a "happy family boat." Sorta an iphone of a boat. Here's what I mean:

The kids want to get slaphappy silly getting the bejesus bounced out of them while hanging onto a tube for dear life and inhaling half the lake? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Want to enjoy a nice light wind sail and teach the kids about sailing, until they get bored and want to go tubing? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Wind pick up, storm clouds threatening, everybody is getting a little nervous and you want to get back to the dock quick? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Want to take the whole family on a sailing vacation for a couple of weeks in the Keys, but you live in Cincinnati? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Are you a novice boater, unsure whether you will like sailing, unsure whether you will like powerboating, don't want to guess wrong and buy a sailboat when you would rather have a powerboat? No problem. This boat has an app for that.


How many of us have found our kids, once they reach a certain age no longer want to sail, instead they would rather hang out with their powerboat owning friends, because "sailing is slow and boring?" How many of us have spouses who won't sail because they get antsy when they see storm clouds on the horizon? How many of us wish we could cruise our boat in new cruising grounds but can't because we only have two weeks of vacation available?
It's not for me, but it may be the right boat for my friends, and at the end of the day, if you're on the water with a grin on your grille surrounded by a family grinning just as big, then it's the right boat for you.

 

[maby]

I guess that part of the problem is that, since they are cheap compared with any more conventional alternative, they get purchased as starter boats for new sailors and they are rather touchy to handle. We're based on the east coast of England with lots of mud banks and shallow inlets. We've upgraded from a bilge keeler to a deep keel in the interests of performance and cruising range, but we are now blocked from some of our old sailing grounds. If we had access to a Mac or a Legend Edge, we would use it sometimes for creek crawling - and knowing what we do now, we would sail it safely.

 

[Colvic Watson]

What it is is a "happy family boat." Sorta an iphone of a boat. Here's what I mean:

The kids want to get slaphappy silly getting the bejesus bounced out of them while hanging onto a tube for dear life and inhaling half the lake? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Want to enjoy a nice light wind sail and teach the kids about sailing, until they get bored and want to go tubing? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Wind pick up, storm clouds threatening, everybody is getting a little nervous and you want to get back to the dock quick? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Want to take the whole family on a sailing vacation for a couple of weeks in the Keys, but you live in Cincinnati? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

Are you a novice boater, unsure whether you will like sailing, unsure whether you will like powerboating, don't want to guess wrong and buy a sailboat when you would rather have a powerboat? No problem. This boat has an app for that.

A brilliant post. Unfortunately it contravenes the received wisdom that Mac's are krap and so the criticism will continue. So will Mac26 production of course

We all know that a Mac26 is a rubbish high wind/high seas yacht, but it's a brilliant family safe water boat - but still that's not good enough for some people who compare it to completely different yachts.

 

[Searush]

The sort of people who rubbish them, just don't do the sort of sailing/boating that suits a Mac, I guess.

 

[Twister_Ken]

The sort of people who rubbish them, just don't do the sort of sailing/boating that suits a Mac, I guess.

Oh come on, we're expecting something much more opinionated and incendiary than that old tosh.

 

[CreakyDecks]

I've never sailed one so I'm reluctant to join the usual chorus of things that are wrong with them. I have my doubts though on a) watching them in action, and b) stories like these:

But then when you read the stories you find out that, for example in the one where the two kids were killed, the skipper had drunk twice the limit for driving, hadn't filled the ballast tanks and had eleven people on board. I'm fairly sure that if I didn't wind the keel down on my Jaguar 21 and went sailing with a football team on deck it would quickly end in disaster!
I wouldn't want one myself, but I can see why some people would. At the end of the day it's just a floating caravan. It probably has the same towing weight as my boat but is five feet longer, has full standing headroom and doesn't have half the cabin taken up by a keel box. For some people those advantages will more than make up for it sailing like a pig.

 

[Duffer]

Steady now! As long as people realise that water ballast isn't a substitute for a lump of iron 5' down then they are OK - i.e. you need to appreciate the limitations as well as the positives before buying one... Wasn't there also an Odin or Imexus on the same lines (possibly more substantially built)?

 

[snowleopard]

If you buy one, be sure to think of a good name for it...

 

[BobPrell]

One hull good, two hulls better.

Snowleopard, about your signature line . . . . .

Does that still apply if the two hulls have been sort of, melded together, as on the M26?

 

[Windy Tonique]

We started off with a MacGregor 26C as our first ever boat on Lake Windermere having sailed dinghies before. The low cost and enough room for our 2 kids and ourselves to stay on at the weekend was the main reason we chose it. We had great fun on her sailing most weekends from March to October. She had had a replacement larger mast fitted and with a Genny she sailed well in light to medium airs. It could get hairy above 18 or so knots of wind where Lakey might have seen us heeling over like a pond boat....

She met her demise in the floods of 09 and the insurance paid out what we bought her for so we bought a GibSea trailer sailer for just a few thousand more. We were looking to upgrade at the time anyway. However the MacGregor was a cheap family starter boat as others have said. Since then we have flotilla sailed in Greece and done our Day Skipper in Portugal and have plans to sail to the Med and beyond in years to come. Whilst we would not consider a MacGregor for that purpose it suited our original requirements and we didn't have to break the bank to get into sailing. Would I recommend that anyone in a similar position looking for a lake/coastal/shallow water day sailor to look at MacGregor's - yes I would - just don't subscribe to these forums after your purchase.......

 

[dylanwinter]

well said

We started off with a MacGregor 26C as our first ever boat on Lake Windermere having sailed dinghies before. The low cost and enough room for our 2 kids and ourselves to stay on at the weekend was the main reason we chose it. We had great fun on her sailing most weekends from March to October. She had had a replacement larger mast fitted and with a Genny she sailed well in light to medium airs. It could get hairy above 18 or so knots of wind where Lakey might have seen us heeling over like a pond boat....

She met her demise in the floods of 09 and the insurance paid out what we bought her for so we bought a GibSea trailer sailer for just a few thousand more. We were looking to upgrade at the time anyway. However the MacGregor was a cheap family starter boat as others have said. Since then we have flotilla sailed in Greece and done our Day Skipper in Portugal and have plans to sail to the Med and beyond in years to come. Whilst we would not consider a MacGregor for that purpose it suited our original requirements and we didn't have to break the bank to get into sailing. Would I recommend that anyone in a similar position looking for a lake/coastal/shallow water day sailor to look at MacGregor's - yes I would - just don't subscribe to these forums after your purchase.......

spot on I reckon

buy one, enjoy it, sail when the weather is great - motor home at high speed

enjoy the palatial interior

most of all ignore the deep keeler, heavy weather blokes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7RIgs3eygo

 

[Seajet]

most of all ignore the deep keeler, heavy weather blokes

Dylan,

I agree as far as Windermere goes - and I've seen it rough enough there -, but making statements like that, can't you feel Mr Darwin tapping on your shoulder ?!

 

[Windy Tonique]

Love he link and Happy 3000th post Dylan

 

[dylanwinter]

Nope

most of all ignore the deep keeler, heavy weather blokes

Dylan,

I agree as far as Windermere goes - and I've seen it rough enough there -, but making statements like that, can't you feel Mr Darwin tapping on your shoulder ?!

I think you have to allow people the good sense it takes to listen to the weather forecast and be safely tucked up in harbour when it turns nasty

I would also guess that you might be better running from the weather with a 50 hp on the back of a planing 26 foot speed boat than attempting to chug out if the way in a 4hp slug.

I have been contacted my the makers of Mac and my new boat along with a Discovery to tow it with is being delivered the week after Easter

which is very nice of them

Dylan

 

[dylanwinter]

3000 posts and 10,000 literals

Love he link and Happy 3000th post Dylan

I seem average about three mistakes per posting

more than that when using the laptop in the dark

terrible record for a hack

but I was trained on a mechanical typewriter

Dylan